A Friend Of Sorts
by Ally Carstairs
Summary: "This means war, Marauders! War! And let me tell you, Sirius Orion Black, I'm after you!" Rowan didn't care that other students were coming out of their own compartments, curious to see what all the yelling was about. "Wouldn't have it any other way, love!" Sirius called back, still laughing.
1. Chapter 1

Rowan Stark was sitting in a comfortable compartment on the Hogwarts Express. It was going to be the start of her fifth year at Hogwarts, and she could feel the difference already. The last couple of years Rowan had cruised through her classes, getting good marks with minimal effort and spending most of her time knocking about and hanging out with her friends. With the threat of O.W.L.'s and Lily's new position as Prefect, Rowan kind of figured that all of that was all going to change.

The red-headed Lily Evans was currently sitting across from Rowan, talking to Marlene. Rowan would have talked with Alice, but the girl was daydreaming – probably about Frank Longbottom. Rowan smirked.

Alice jumped back in her seat as the compartment door viciously flew open. Seeing the familiar silhouettes in the doorway, Rowan quickly rolled from her seat and onto the floor. The harmless hex aimed at her head innocently hit the window; the window frame turned from an elegant gold to an angry shade of neon purple. Merlin, Rowan thought to herself, the guys weren't messing about. Rowan had been apart of the Marauders' life since her first year at Hogwarts. They had a perfectly healthy love-hate relationship. The boys were extremely close, but they occasionally included Rowan in on their antics. Most of the time, they used her as an outlet for their boredom.

"Oi! Marauders!" Rowan caught the boys attention over Lily's shrieking reprimands. Only Sirius saw Rowan's hex coming. Dropping to the floor, Sirius laughed as his mates fell down in result of the jelly legs curse. Usually, James would have dodged the jinx as well, but he had been too busy sweeping a graceful bow to the livid Lily Evans. Rowan was laughing – it was too funny, seeing James suddenly hit the floor while trying to impress her friend. Taking advantage of Rowan's hysterical state, Sirius leaped to his feet and threw a curse at her. Rowan didn't even see it coming. The curse hit her straight in the chest. The compartment quickly fell into silence. Rowan looked down at her once pale hand; it was now green.

Sirius fell to the floor laughing, joining his friends. "Got ya, Stark!"

Rowan was too busy staring at her puke-colored hands to respond to the boy's taunt. She turned to look at Lily. "Is it all like this?" Lily nodded her head, confirming that Rowan's face was as green as her hands. Rowan turned to look at the Marauders. By now, all four boys were back to normal, sitting in a heap on the floor, silently chuckling at their victory.

"Haha, very funny boys, now change me back." Rowan was now in a foul mood.

The boys immediately became silent. Remus looked at his feet, while Sirius and James exchanged one of _their _looks. Peter giggled quietly.

"Black, I swear, if you don't fix this right now, I'll have Lily report you." Lily raised an eyebrow at Rowan's threat.

"Padfoot!" James nudged his friend, urging him to explain.

"Prongs!" Sirius nudged him right back, smirking. His smirk fell as he saw Rowan twirl her wand in her hand threateningly. He lazily stood up, leaning against the compartment door. "Well, first off, if you report us, which you won't, we'll just have good old Moony here counter report you."

Rowan turned to look at Remus Lupin; a Prefect badge adorned his cloak. He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"Secondly, there isn't a counter curse," Sirius paused to help his friends up from the floor, he grinned and turned to look at the tight-lipped Rowan, "you're just going to have to wait it out."

Rowan leaped at the Gryffindor, ready to slap the stupid grin right off of his stupid face. Sirius was already out the door, running down the aisle, followed by the other three boys. Poor Lily had to restrain Rowan from going after them.

"This means war, Marauders! War! And let me tell you, Sirius Orion Black, I'm after you!" Rowan didn't care that other students were coming out of their own compartments, curious to see what all the yelling was about.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, love!" Sirius called back, still laughing.

Lily struggled to get Rowan back into their own compartment; Marlene had to help.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry, I didn't have an authors note for the first chapter, but I honestly didn't have too much to say. I also apologize for the lapse of time between updates. Finals were last week, and I studied my arse off! ;) Updates will become more regular, at the least once a week. If you guys have any ideas or suggestions for where you want the plot to go, let me know. I don't completely have the story planned out. Reviews are nice!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own in any way, shape, or form, the amazing Harry Potter series. All that credit goes to J. K. Rowling.**

"Come on, Rowan. It's really not that bad." Lily was trying to coax her green friend into the Great Hall. The sorting hat ceremony was still taking place, and dinner was just about to begin. Rowan refused to go in, making Lily wait outside the wooden double doors with her.

"No, I can't go in looking like this! It's the first bloody day back, Lily." Rowan's whining made Lily roll her eyes.

"Rowan Stark, are you really going to let those four morons get the best of you?" Lily's hands were on her hips; she was getting a little more than irritated with her friend.

Rowan raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, Rowan Stark never lets anyone get the best of her!"

Lily was smirking. "Well, everyone's going to think that. Come on, you guys have a reputation for pranking each other. You guys also have a reputation for never giving in to the other. If you keep moping about, feeling sorry for yourself, people are going to start thinking differently."

By the end of Lily's speech Rowan was pouting like a two year-old. She grabbed Lily's arm and barged through the doors leading into the Great Hall. Rowan walked straight to the Gryffindor table, head held high and Lily in tow. Granted, all the other students were staring; the first years looked terrified, while the older students shook their heads and chuckled. Rowan sat down next to Alice, pulling Lily down beside her. Lily was smiling, obviously proud of herself.

The food was already on the table, so Rowan grabbed a plate and started shoveling. Lily and Alice made polite conversation while their friend gorged herself on food. Rowan called it therapeutic eating.

"So Alice, tell us about Frank." Marlene wiggled her eyebrows as she took a seat across from the shy girl.

Rowan swallowed and scooched closer to the gossiping girls. "Frank Longbottom?" Rowan smirked as she looked down the long table for said subject. Frank was sitting by the Marauders. She grimaced as she caught sight of Sirius watching her. Sirius threw her a grin. Rowan stuck her tongue out at him and then turned back to Marlene and Alice.

"Yes, Frank Longbottom." Marlene nudged Rowan while dragging out Frank's last name. Alice nearly choked on her pumpkin juice; the other three girls just giggled.

"What about Frank?" Alice questioned her friends timidly. Lily gave Rowan a look, while Marlene openly gaped at their shy friend.

"Well, it's bloody obvious, Alice. Frank likes you, and I'll bet my last chocolate frog that you like him too." Rowan had put her fork down by this point. Her eyes were narrowed as she stared down Alice, trying to get the girl to fess up.

Alice was fiddling with her cloak. "Well, I – ," Alice abruptly stood up. "I think I'm going to head up to bed early, goodnight." Alice quickly pushed away from the table and nearly ran out of the hall. Frank watched Alice leave, only to gather his things and run out after her.

Rowan turned back to Lily and Marlene. Lily slapped her on the arm. "Rowan, you didn't have to be so blunt!"

Marlene laughed. "The whole situation is blunt!"

Rowan rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, someone had to tell her. It was killing me, the obviousness of it all. How can two people like each other so much and be so ignorant of it?"

Rowan groaned as she made the long trek to the Gryffindor common room alone. Lily had to stay behind to lead the nervous first years through the castle and Marlene had run off with a seventh year. Only when Rowan was just in front of the Fat Lady did she remember that she _did not _ remember the password to get in.

Rowan put on a charming smile; she had to try. "Miss Fat Lady, how pleasant it is to see you –"

"Password?" The picture rudely cut Rowan off.

"Umm, Balderdash?" Rowan guessed uncertainly.

The Fat Lady scrunched her painted eyebrows. "No."

"Can't you just let me in!? Just this once, please?" Rowan hated resorting to begging, but she was tired and annoyed.

"No."

"Why not?! You've seen me come and go for four bloody years already! I've never forgotten the password before, just let this one slide." Her hands were clenched into fists at her side.

"Actually, I don't recognize you. All the more reason for me to be cautious. You might vaguely resemble some Gryffindor girl, but you are green and she is not." The picture was looking at Rowan in distaste.

"Whatever!" Rowan angrily turned around and stomped away. Rowan knew she would have been better off waiting in front of the portrait for some other Gryffindor to let her in, but she didn't want to have to wait around with that rude, obese, woman. Rowan had no idea where she was going; she was pretty much walking blindly. Her attention was only brought to her surroundings when she walked into someone.

She snapped her head up, ready to tell off the unlucky offender. It was Sirius Black. He was smirking down at her. Rowan closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "Black, I am not in the mood. Now, will you kindly get out of my way."

"No." Sirius crossed his arms, looking offended. "Just because you're having a bad day, doesn't mean you can take it out on others, Stark."

Rowan huffed indignantly. "It does when you're the cause of my bad day!"

Sirius started to laugh. Rowan tried to step around him, but he grabbed her elbow. She struggled to yank it out of his grasp.

"Seriously," the Marauder paused to smirk at his own pun, "where are you running off to at this time of night?"

Rowan sighed. Black wasn't going to let go of her until she told him. "I never got the password to get into the Gryffindor common room. I'm locked out, and the stupid Fat Lady won't let me in because I'm green. This is all your fault!"

Sirius tried to contain his laughter. Rowan stomped on his foot, and with a yelp Sirius let go of the girl. She tried to walk away from him, but he easily caught up to her.

"I'm sorry." Sirius did not sound even a bit remorseful.

Rowan looked at him out of the side of her eyes. "No, you're not."

He grinned, knowing that she spoke the truth.


End file.
